Nation sticks up for ISRO; no requiem yet

Bengaluru/New Delhi, Sept. 8 -- Notwithstanding ISRO's ambitious bid to create history failing at the last hurdle, the entire nation - that had kept awake through the night to witness the historic moment of Vikram's soft landing on the unexplored south pole of the moon - backed the space agency to the hilt even as scientists on Saturday maintained that Chandrayaan-2 achieved 90-95 per cent of its mission objectives.

In fact, ISRO said Chandrayaan-2's orbiter, whose mission life was planned for just one year, could now last for seven years due to the precise launch and mission management and it will help in the understanding of the moon's evolution, mapping of its minerals and water molecules in the Polar Regions. ISRO chief K Sivan attri...